Thursday, April 14, 2011

L - The Lair


Way back at the beginning of March, Sommer from Tell Great Stories invited us to share pictures of our lair – our writing area. I didn’t  have any at the time, but grabbed the camera to take some.

Yes, it did take me a whole month to take the pictures. Since I had them, however, and nothing to post for “L” yet, I held onto them.

Let’s be honest, my writing area is an embarrassing mess. Proof? This is what it looked like on April 4th. It’s worse today, and the whole room is this way.



There is one interesting thing, however: the wall. I stick tons of things on my walls! Here’s the zoom in, and what’s what!



#1. Quick summary of White Echoes’ three VOPs’ storylines.
#2. A calendar with cats! Because I can’t use an agenda. At all.
#3. Awesome wall stickers given by my twin.
#4. I once typed “I ha ha!” instead of “ha ha” in MSN. Sometimes little things become an ongoing joke. He did this card when he disguised himself as Chaplin for Halloween (and had other cards for “Yes” “No” and “I lost.”)
#5. Inglorious Basterds postcard! This one is Aldo Rayne on a pile of cadavers with the caption “A basterd’s work is never done.” I believe we’re never done learning the craft. So it went there!
#6. NaNoWriMo donor postcard. The other one fell off. Today it is replaced by Sommer's Valentine card.
#7. The tiny moon crescent was done by a friend for LARP. I think of it as a good luck charm. It’s one of the rare things I’m superstitious about.
#8. A tiny squid with a magnet! I did these myself and gave them out to Wrimos who made donations to the OLL last November.
#9. The cover for Aheila’s blog novel, Unforeseen Dives. She’s one of my wrimos, and she’s awesome.
#10. NaNoWriMo calendar, with stickers! This is how I encourage myself during the month. I give one to all the wrimos, too.
#11. Larry Brooks’ Six Core Competencies. Some things are too important to lose sight of.
#12. Message in a bottle!  It’s words of encouragements from one of my wrimos. I had all of them write one at the start of NaNo, and we picked one at random, to open in times of need.

That’s it! Yeah, there’s a lot of NaNoWriMo things there. I get really passionate about the event. Keeping reminders of its greatness close to me cheers me up when I need to write.

Also, you remember the herpes plushie I mentioned last Thursday? Look above my laptop. It’s the round yellow thing with eyes. There’s ulcer at its right. They’re always watching me while I work!

So that’s the mess I write in! Apparently I don’t need order to be inspired. Good thing, because I’m bad with cleaning.

20 comments:

  1. Yay for lairs!!!

    I don't think there is anything wrong with your work area - it shows how busy and productive you are! Mine no longer looks like what I posted when I posted it. Now there are books all over the desk and in front of the books on the book shelf and there is a new cat tree.

    I LOVE your "I HA HA!"

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  2. Wow, Claudie, your lair and my lair could be besties. I also cover the wall with stuff that inspires. I recently picked up a cork board / white board combo that allows me to scribble notes to myself and stick up all manner of things.

    Love the disease plushies! I always meant to pick up syphilis... (Because I studied it in school, not because I...oh, never mind.)

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  3. Sommer: What's wrong with it is that I can't find any room to put my books now. It should get a thorough cleaning, erm... after the finals. Also, cat tree? <3

    Elizabeth: Don't worry, I understand about the plushie. The more I've studied one, the more I want to have it. Nearly picked up syphilis, too. Oh, and I adore the flesh-eating bacteria. It has a knife and a fork! So adorable.

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  4. Good "L" choice. Every writer needs a lair.

    I've thought about posting a picture of my writing space, but, uh, it's kind of a disaster, and I would feel the need to clean it up first (I'm anal retentive that way).

    Fun post.

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  5. I love your space. It kinda reminds me of mine, except slightly messier, which makes me feel a whole lot better.
    My desk is covered in notes, plot cards for my comic, and drawing pads, and the occasional cat. My black cat likes to sit on my desk and stare at me while I write and then surreptitiously try to drink out of my water.

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  6. LG: The mess is one of the reasons it took so long before I posted it. Then I realised it was always messy, and I might as well accept it. You'll note there's no picture of my whole room, though. That was a tad too much. XD

    Akari: Aaaw, your cat is awesome. I have to keep mine (also a black cat) out of the room. My boyfriend is slightly allergic and this is where he sleeps. I try to go easy on him. ;)

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  7. I love writing space pictures. It makes me feel good to know other people have crazy things decorating their work space as well.

    I love the idea of a NaNo calendar. Maybe I could get a copy this Nov?? Pretty Please?

    Good topic. I might have to steal this idea myself...

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  8. I love your lair, and not just because I have a typewriter just like the wall sticker one. Remington Rand. Black smudges on my fingertips from the ink ribbon. Loud ding at the end of each line.

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  9. Whatever works, I say. My writing desk grows heaps of paper, no matter how often I clean the clutter.

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  10. Number one: Disease plushies are amazing! I still don't own one, it's a struggle to choose.

    Number two: I found I work better with a mess around me. Everyday I would start by cleaning my area up, and somehow the starkness of space made my thoughts and ideas constipated. Now, I flourish in the mess and I've been writing more every day!

    Number three: I'm envious of your wall. I work in my dining room. Makes it difficult to past things on the wall. But they do hang off everything on the table. Reminders and encouraging bits draw me to my area, turning on the writing switch.

    Good luck with the challenge!

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  11. Cool lair! Mine is messier by far . . . except right in the middle where the writing gets done.
    http://tyreanswritingspot.blogspot.com/

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  12. found you through A-Z. love your lair. nice to meet another fantasy writer. looking forward to reading more.

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  13. TL: Sure you can get a calendar! I was going to say "just remind me", but if you're still hanging around in November, I'm bound to talk about NaNo. So we'll both be reminded!

    Margo: Oh, I wish I owned a real one! O.o Although I do have the little round "heart" of one, a gift from my brother. It has letters and numbers in relief on it.

    JL: I just stopped cleaning! It's easier that way. ;)

    Laura: Yay for mess writers! I typically function well as long as I at least have music. Music creates my bubble.

    Karen: It was a pleasure. ;) If I needed "clean" to work, I would never get anywhere. XD

    Tyrean: Hey, all that matters is to have a room for the laptop (or other writerly tools). When November rolls around and I get NaNoWriMo-busy, I typically can only set down my laptop and my coffee mug. THE ESSENTIALS.

    Michelle: Thanks for stopping by! :)

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  14. Love the lair! Mine is a *bit* neater (but only a bit) because it shuts away in a cupboard. The inside of the cupboard doors are great for to-do lists and memos and so on (and my handy "Do not disturb: Mummy is working" sign to blu-tak to the bedroom door as needed...)

    This A-Z Challenge thing is great - discovering so many cool blogs!

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  15. Wish I had a lair :) I sit on the chair for a while, then hop to bed.. My DH blames the bed for my backache!!!

    Following you from A-Z challenge!

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  16. Beth: Ooh, To-Do lists on the doors are a great idea. I hang them from the desk's ledge.

    Ju: Oh wow, yeah, bed isn't good for your back. Then again, I wrote half of my first NaNo in mine, so hey.. I know what it's like. These days I only use my bed for sleep (duh), reading and laying flat while I listen to music. Writing is at the desk!

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  17. I love these personal posts. Tells so much about you. I've done it a couple of times and it is fun.

    Denise<3

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  18. I love lairs! great pictures there. Did you get the herpes plushie from thinkgeek.com? i love that online store.:) great meeting you through the a-z. will be following!
    nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

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  19. I love all the personalized stuff you have! And hey I didn't know there was a NaNoWriMo calendar! (can you get it online??) But I do know about the Six Core Competencies. YAY! (I ought to post them, too)

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  20. Denise: If you're curious for more, I list such personal posts in the About Me page.

    Nutschell: Yep, they came from thinkgeek. I love browsing it, but they deal with DHL, and I have to pay quite a lot for importing things across the frontier (I can't remember the word for the life of me). But I love them nonetheless!

    Margo: There are a lot of NaNoWriMo calendars available, in the technology section of their forums, I think. Some are prettier than mine, too. As long as I have something to put stickers on, I'm good.

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